How to Pray in Color - What It's All About

As a young child, I asked Jesus to forgive my sins and to be my Savior. I committed my life to Him. Throughout my childhood, my parents encouraged me to memorize Bible verses and one of those verses was I Thessalonians 5:17 - Pray without ceasing.

That is a tall order. Even as an adult, I never achieved any level of consistent prayer, let alone "without ceasing". It seemed that every time I endeavored to really pray, my mind wandered, there were interruptions, or I fell asleep.

I tried every method available to help me stay focused in prayer - lists, acrostics, New Year's resolutions, and others. Despite my efforts, nothing worked for me.

Years passed and I knew that I was missing a very precious part of my walk with God. There seemed to be no hope for me when it came to establishing prayer as a regular part of my life.

Then one Saturday, my daughter, Heather, called with a request.

"Mom, Aaron's out of town this weekend. I have to play the piano for church tomorrow, get both kids ready, and get myself ready. Please pray that all goes well."

I promised. As I hung up the phone, thoughts of my adorable grandbabies filled my mind, obliterating any memory of my promise to pray.

Sunday afternoon I got another call.

"YOU DIDN'T PRAY, DID YOU?"

Her morning could not have been worse. In the middle of the "get ready" rush, Heather heard the door bolt sliding into place on her bedroom door. Visualizing both her toddler and baby alone in the locked room, she frantically tried to tell the 2 year-old how to unbolt the door. It was useless. Heather scrambled to locate tools, go outside and climb a ladder to the bedroom window, cut the screen, climb into the house and rescue the kids herself.

It was obvious that I had not prayed for her. That was the day I determined to change my ways. No more excuses.

With that failure heavy on my mind, I did the two things that are required of any person who wants to pray consistently.

1.) I learned how to pray... what God expects of me in prayer. I opened my Bible and discovered that when His disciples asked about prayer, Jesus told them "When you pray, say..." and He gave them what we call the Lord's Prayer. As I examined this prayer, I learned that it is a list of topics that God wants me to talk about with Him.

2.) I chose a time to pray. I have heard it said that the great people of the earth today are the people who pray. Not those who talk about prayer or those who can explain about prayer, but people who actually take time and pray. They don't have the time. It must be taken from something else.

I searched my schedule to find a specific time to set aside for prayer. When was my perfect time? My shower! It was every day and it was uninterrupted.

With those two decisions written in stone, I added the icing on the cake... a tool that keeps me focused and continually moving forward in prayer - my visual prayer list. It is a small scrapbook that organizes my prayer list following the topics in the Lord's Prayer. Now, when I pray for my family, I am looking at their faces. When I confess my sin, I see a representation of the cross where Jesus died for me.

For 12 years, I have prayed every day. No more failure... no forgotten requests. The combination of the Lord's Prayer and my prayer album keep me "on my knees" continually, wherever I am.

Next: How to pray - Chapter 1 (Worship)